Farewell Caxton

Yesterday we finished winterising Caxton in order to leave her safely for her new owners Paul and Elaine.
 So that's it, the end of our Caxton adventures and the end of the Caxton blog.    I would like to invite all of Caxton's followers to join us on the new boat and the new blog,  Yarwood....
see you soon.

Galley cleared..

 Saloon cleared ..

Bed aired..

 Bye Caxton

Moving out

Yesterday I started the task of 'moving out' of Caxton.   Using the matching luggage - mainly blue Tesco bags for Joe and I and the boys little Morrison number -  I packed the contents of the larder, then the saucepans, the crockery, the books, the maps, the dog food and much more and ferried it all up to Yarwood where I then placed it all in new homes.
Today the plan is for more of the same... and hopefully Joe will think about making a start on the tool department...

Francis searchlight for sale

Joe has just listed a Francis Searchlight for sale on Ebay.  Just thought I would let the boaty community know just in case anyone is looking for one...

Chromed 9" Francis Searchlight

Nearly time to call a halt...

I will soon be calling a halt to the Caxton blog.  Our new boat Yarwood will be launched on Saturday next (21/01/12) and we hope/aim to complete our transfer from Caxton to the new quarters by Monday 23rd at the latest.  Thereafter, depending on the ICE conditions, we will head into Birmingham until such time as the stoppages allow us to escape south to Gayton and the road to the Fens.

When it comes to voting...

When it comes to voting for the Boaters representatives on the new body that will replace British Waterways, remember the name Andy Tidy.
Andy is standing for election as a boaters representative on the new Canal and Rivers Trust and many in the blogging community will be aware of Andy through his detailed and informative blog, Captain Ahab's Watery Tales.  Of course Andy will not be standing as Capt. Ahab, his pseudonym, so it's either Andy Tidy or Andrew Tidy when it comes to voting.

One other little thought...let's not be apathetic when it comes to vote.  If we want boaters views to influence what happens with this wonderful network we need to ensure that we have boaters in place on the committees etc.  SO VOTE.

Handing over

Yesterday was Caxton handover day and Russell and Tracey arrived to do the honours on behalf of the new owners Paul and Elaine who are still in Oz.    Russell and Tracey are for the time being, adoptive owners so to speak.  They came armed with the old video and recorded all the explanations of the technical stuff , "here be an engine and here be a switch" etc. and importantly, recorded the obligatory visit to the local pub WITH DOGS in tow.....this just to wind Paul up as those who read his blog will be aware of his irritation at the prohibition of anything canine in Australia. 
Sorry Paul, we couldn't resist...

Russell and Tracey, Caxton's new adoptive owners

There's lapdogs and there's ...

And there's LAPDOGS!!
Five and half stone of lapdog to be precise - the preferred evening position of a certain Charlie Chuggs, akka Floyd, Mum or Dad's lap

Be gone woman...

I was sent off this morning with the dogs and told to keep out of the way for a few hours.  So the boys and I went up to the Wyre Forest and trekked about for two hours before daring to return to Caxton.  A great day for walking, if a bit unseasonally warm, acres and acres of mixed woodland to wander in and hardly anyone else to share it with.  I kept a wary eye on the comings and goings of Floyd and Fletcher though, it was here in the summer when they found a 'ripe' deer carcase to embellish their coats with...disgusting mutts!

 And the reason for the banishment.... Joe had hired a carpet cleaner to clean Caxton's carpet tiles so the new owners, Paul and Elaine, will start life aboard Caxton without an accumulation of deep down grit - all fresh now folks.

Joe has decided that for it is probably worthwhile doing this once a year on Yarwood just to keep the wear down - it is the accumulation of abrasive grit, that most vacuum cleaners fail to completely remov,e that damages the carpets. 

Thank you Mother

My Christmas pressie from Mother and tonight I have cooked our first recipe/meal from said Booook..

A rather pleasing aubergine casserole - the dogs are just eating the remainder - cooked for four when I only need to feed two...doh

Red Boarded

The River Severn has been closed to navigation (red boarded) following last week's heavy rains.  The River is only moderately high compared to what she can do but some of the Severn Way was under water at the weekend when I took the dogs on our circular walk of Stourport.

The Barge lock looking towards the basin and the clock tower.

The first night we moored in the basin I was woken by the clock bell tolling every hour - now I sleep through most of those 'chimes'....not all . but most.

The narrow locks, the first of two staircase locks up from the River Severn

The R Severn from the entrance to the narrow locks

There is quite a flow here and a lot of trees being taken down stream at the moment.

Should every boat have one?

We have just bought a venturi shower head for Yarwood. 
The blurb says that...
 "A conventional shower has a flow rate of 25 to 30 litres per minute so a five minute shower uses around 125 litres of water. The Venturi shower use only 6 or 8 litres per minute, so you save over 90 litres having a 5 minute shower, cutting water and energy consumption up to 70%."
The flow of water to the shower head is restricted but a 'vent' in the base of the shower head handle sucks in air which aerates the flow of water and increases the pressure again - result you feel satisfied with the flow and shower experience but have used less water.
Now that has got to worth a try ..

Insurance sorted..

I posted a couple of days ago about starting the tiresome job of trawling through Insurance companies for boat quotes.  Several of you mentioned Towergate Marden as a good source of cover but my initial trawl through, via a comparison site, had TM refusing to cover a 'liveaboard'.    However,  I took your advice and got in touch with TM directly, the old fashioned way, by the phone, and have decided to insure Yarwood with them.   It is not cheap but then a very new boat isn't cheap either and I don't fancy having to cope with a total loss of boat and home without adequate cover.  Towergate Marden have policies tailored for liveaboards, they appreciate correspondence addresses and they get continuous cruisers so they have my business.
And sadly, my money...
Thanks for the advice folks.

Dashing for the dock with a bit of NEWS - CAXTON SOLD!!!

The night before last the wind was howling a hooley and we lay awake wondering if the wind might just relent a little by the morning
It didn't.
At 08.30 we slipped our mooring here in Stourport basin and headed off for a date with the dry dock.  The wind gusted and growled and did everything to make mooring  68 feet of steel tube on the lock landing as difficult as possible.  We managed, though it wasn't elegant, and dropped down through the first staircase lock and on towards the dock.

There be the dry dock

And there be Caxton heading out of the shelter of the lock and into the dock

Just getting Caxton positioned 4' from the dock wall and readied for the dock to be drained.

And here is the reason why, Caxton is being surveyed by Chris Berry on behalf of her new prospective owners! 
Yes, Caxton is sold!  The new owners are Paul and Elaine from Australia the writers of the Manley Ferry blog.

Chris spent 5 hours doing a thorough pre-purchase survey

Anodes OK

And while Chris Berry was busy freezing outside, his dog, Thomas Lurcher was making himself at home in the warm thank you very much...

See you can get a big dog in a small comfy space - Our two, who don't do furniture, were less than impressed

Christopher Berry Marine Surveyor..

Survey completed, and only two hose clips required, it was time to refill the dock and fight our way back through the wind to our mooring!

Smelling salts anyone?

The insurance quotes are coming in....I am laying on the floor twitching!!

Insurance merry-go-round

Here we go again, Insurance, this time for Yarwood.  The usual dancing around the 0800 numbers, on-line form completion and quotes that get sent directly to a correspondance address...ye gods!!
I have quotes from Saga, Craftinsure and a couple of others, some don't want to know about liveaboards, some don't grasp Continuous cruisers, some do..
Any recommendations for Boat Insurers???

And the next job..

After taking the dogs for a good long walk yesterday morning I returned to Caxton to find Himself had created a paper storm in the saloon.  All the manuals were out, all the bank statements and the contents of the drawer where all miscellaneous things find a home... were spread about.

I left him to it and cleared off to Worcester to Dunelm Mills store in search of more curtain fabric for Yarwood, packing cases and some new bedding.   My trip was successful and on my return I found Joe had filled a rubbish sack with unwanted/unneeded paper work and filed all of Caxton's manuals neatly.
Joe's next task was to clean the accumulation of brassware we have gathered for Yarwood and while he did this I tackled the fridge...I am still in there somewhere, help!!

But it wasn't oil filters!

I am tryping to you today on my new Christmas present, a dinkie Sony Vaio laptop.  Himself treated me to this replacement - I was taken aback when I opened the Christmas wrapped oil filter box to find a collection of old Canal Boat mags and nestled in amongst all this, a new laptop!!!

Dual-core AMD E-450 processor

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

Memory: 4GB

Battery life: Up to 6 hours battery life

only 1.6 kg

11.5 inch screen